James Blitz
Out of Order?
Unspeakable: The Autobiography
By John Bercow
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 464pp £20 order from our bookshop
John Bercow enjoyed a degree of fame as Speaker of the House of Commons that was unmatched by any of his predecessors. The extent of his celebrity became all too apparent when, after stepping down from the post last October, he appeared on a popular Italian television show, delighting the audience with comments on British politics. Before Bercow left the stage, the compere asked whether he could oblige viewers by shouting ‘Order! Order!’ in Italian. He duly obliged, bellowing ‘Ordine! Ordine!’ to wild applause. The moment was testimony to just how much audiences at home and abroad had been gripped by the Brexit drama in the Commons last year – and by the role that Bercow himself played in it.
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